Montgomery County filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday against a number of pharmaceutical companies and distributors it claims "aggressively pushed highly addictive, dangerous opioids."

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Nashville, complains there were violations of the Racketeer Influenced and and Corrupt Organizations Act, that the corporations created a "public nuisance," and that they were negligent and misrepresented the danger of taking opioids for chronic pain.

"We became aware of pending litigation against the manufacturers of opioids," said Montgomery County Mayor Jim Durrett. "After reviewing the proposed litigation, we joined into the suit, at no expense to Montgomery County. If we receive a favorable ruling, we will be able to recover Montgomery County’s damages related to opioid abuse."

The county claims the defendants' actions caused a financial burden, including the cost for providing medical care for opioid-related addiction or diseases, including overdose and death; the costs for providing treatment; the costs for providing treatment to infants born with opioid-related medical conditions; costs associated with law enforcement and public safety; and the costs of providing care for children whose parents suffer from opioid-related disability or incapacitation.

The lawsuit also "seeks the means to abate the epidemic created by defendants' wrongful and/or unlawful conduct."

It states the county has standing to recover damages as a result of the companies' actions or omissions and to bring the claims under the federal RICO statute, which generally target ongoing criminal organizations.

Members from the Montgomery County Board of Health discuss the local impacts of the Opioid epidemic.(Photo: Contributed)

It names 20 companies, which the lawsuit claims created a hazard to public health and asks the court to eliminate that hazard, abate the nuisance and recoup monies that have been spent because of the defendant's "false, deceptive and unfair marketing/and or unlawful diversion of opioid pills."

Over the last two decades, there has been an increasing abuse and diversion of prescription drugs.

By 2010, it says enough prescription opioids were sold to medicate every adult in the US with a dose of 5 milligrams of hydrocodone every four hours for one month.

In 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources declared prescription painkiller overdoses at "epidemic levels," the lawsuit claims.

The death toll has tripled in the last decade with more than 40 people dying from overdoses everyday involving narcotic pain relievers like hydrocodone, methadone, oxycodone and oxymorphone.

"Prescription drug abuse is a silent epidemic that is stealing thousands of lives and tearing apart communities and families across America," the lawsuit says. "Almost 5,500 people start to misuse prescription painkillers every day."

In 2016, drug overdoses killed roughly 64,000 people in the United States, up 22 percent from the previous year.

"Meanwhile, the manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids extract billions of dollars of revenue from the addicted American public while public entities experience tens of millions of dollars of injury."

Tennessee ranks second in the country in its opioid prescription rate of 142.8 prescriptions written per 100 person. There were 1,186 deaths caused by overdoses in 2017, which set a record in state history. There was also a dramatic jump in deaths associated with heroin, an illegal opioid some turn to as a result of addiction that started with pills.

Tennessee spent more than $422 million on the problem in 2015 alone, according to the lawsuits. It has doubled the number of parents who have lost rights to their children since 2010, the lawsuit says.

In Montgomery County, the Centers for Disease Control estimated 87 opioid prescriptions were dispensed per 100 people in 2016, which is well above the national average of 66.5.

In addition to asking compensatory damages to treat patients suffering from addiction, it claims negligence, civil conspiracy and fraud and misrepresentation. It seeks an unspecified amount of money for punitive damages and asks that the companies be ordered not to engage in unfair or deceptive practices. It also seeks legal and court costs.

The lawsuit asks that the court order the defendants to fund an "abatement fund" to help end the opioid nuisance.

The lawsuit was filed by Montgomery County Attorney Timothy Harvey.

Clarksville City Spokesman Richard Stevens said the city has also retained a lawyer for a similar lawsuit but it has not yet been filed.

Reach Reporter Stephanie Ingersoll at singersoll@theleafchronicle.com or 931-245-0267 and on Twitter @StephLeaf